Plastic parts are commonly manufactured by a molding process, such as blow molding or injection molding, and then further processed by one or more operations such as boring, drilling, and/or welding.
Welding is a process for joining plastic parts together by melting plastic at a location in each part where a weld joint is to be created, then placing the parts together so that their melt pools merge together, and finally allowing the melt pools to solidify into the finished weld joint.
One type of plastic welding is referred to as contact welding. Contact welding comprises placing parts which are to be joined together in direct contact with a heating element, such as a hot plate, at locations on the parts where a weld joint is to be created, and then after sufficient melting of plastic, placing the parts together at the melt pools and allowing the melts to solidify.
Another type of plastic welding is non-contact welding which comprises placing a heating element a short distance from a part and using radiated heat, instead of direct contact, to melt plastic.